Climate Change in Agriculture

Climate change threatens our ability to ensure global food security, eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activity and livestock are a significant driver of climate change, trapping heat in the earth's atmosphere and triggering global warming.

Climate change has both direct and indirect effects on agricultural productivity including changing rainfall patterns, drought, flooding and the geographical redistribution of pests and diseases. The vast amounts of CO₂ absorbed by the oceans causes acidification, influencing the health of our oceans and those whose livelihoods and nutrition depend on them. 

Overview

Agriculture is highly exposed to climate change, as farming activities directly depend on climatic conditions. Agriculture also contributes to climate change through the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Two powerful greenhouse gases are by-products of agricultural activity

·       Methane (CH4) – from livestock digestion processes and stored animal manure

·       Nitrous oxide (N2O) – from organic and mineral nitrogen fertilisers

However, agriculture can also contribute to climate change mitigation by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and by sequestering carbon while maintaining food production.

How climate change impacts agriculture

The impact of climate change is being felt across the EU, and European farming in particular, through

·       changing rainfall patterns

·       rising temperatures

·       variability in seasonality

·       extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, storms, and floods

Human systems and ecosystems in Europe are vulnerable to major climate change impacts such as river floods, droughts or coastal flooding. Even if some climatic changes may be positive for some northern European regions, most will be negative, affecting regions already suffering from environmental or other changes. In various regions, a combination of different types of these impacts can exacerbate vulnerabilities. Farming will be most affected in the southern and south-eastern regions of the EU.

Climate change mitigation

As regards the future of agriculture under the changing climate, a range of adjustment measures can be undertaken relating to farming practices, for example planting, harvesting and watering/fertilising existing crops, using different varieties, diversifying crops, implementing management practices.  

Mitigation has the potential to reduce climate change impacts, and adaptation can reduce the damage of those impacts. Together, both approaches can contribute to the development of societies that are more resilient to the threat of climate change.

Climate change adaptation

Adaptive measures (both at farm and at sectorial level) in agriculture range from technological solutions to adjustments in farm management or structures, and to political changes, such as adaptation plans.

Concerning farm-level adaptation, possible short to medium term adaptive solutions may include:

·       adjusting the timing of farm operations, such as planting or sowing dates and treatments

·       technical solutions, such as protecting orchards from frost damage or improving ventilation and cooling systems in animal shelters

·       choosing crops and varieties better adapted to the expected length of the growing season and water availability, and more resistant to new conditions of temperature and humidity

·       adapting crops with the help of existing genetic diversity and new possibilities offered by biotechnology

·       improving the effectiveness of pest and disease control through for instance better monitoring, diversified crop rotations, or integrated pest management methods

·       using water more efficiently by reducing water losses, improving irrigation practices, and recycling or storing water

·       improving soil management by increasing water retention to conserve soil moisture, and landscape management, such as maintaining landscape features providing shelter to livestock

·       introducing more heat-tolerant livestock breeds and adapting diet patterns of animals under heat stress conditions.

Sectorial-level adaptation may include

·       identification of vulnerable areas and sectors and assessment of needs and opportunities for changing crops and varieties in response to climate trends

·       support to agricultural research and to experimental production aiming at crop selection and development of varieties best suited to new conditions

·       building adaptive capacity by awareness raising and provision of salient information and advice on farm management.

·        What is Food Security?

·        Food security means having, at all times, both physical and economic access to sufficient food to meet dietary needs for a productive and healthy life. A family is food secure when its members do not live in hunger or fear of hunger. Food insecurity is often rooted in poverty and has long-term impacts on the ability of families, communities and countries to develop and prosper. Prolonged undernourishment stunts growth, slows cognitive development and increases susceptibility to illness.

·        Today, more than 800 million people across the globe go to bed hungry every night, most of them smallholder farmers who depend on agriculture to make a living and feed their families. Despite an explosion in the growth of urban slums over the last decade, nearly 75 percent of poor people in developing countries live in rural areas. Growth in the agriculture sector -- from farm to fork -- has been shown to be at least twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth in other sectors.

·        Investing in these smallholder farmers—many of whom are women—and in the markets around them is more important than ever. In order to feed a population expected to grow to 9 billion people by 2050, the world will have to double its current food production. Given scarcity of natural resources and other challenges, the world will need to be more efficient in how it meets this demand. To ensure that people have sufficient food, aligning short-term assistance with a long-term development strategy can help countries feed their own people.

·        By addressing acute need as well as the root causes of hunger, poverty and malnutrition, USAID is strengthening prosperity and security while demonstrating American generosity around the world. USAID’s programs draw on America’s strength in agriculture and bring benefits back to America as well. For example, USAID’s research investments have helped farmers abroad and in the United States protect their harvests from pests and disease.